When will bad guys learn to stop messing with Harrison Ford? Sure, he may look like your typical, mild-mannered businessman/CIA analyst/President/detective/archeologist/wrongly imprisoned doctor, but inside that calm exterior lurks a snarling badass, determined to exact vengeance on those who've wronged him. And whatever you do, don't mess with his family. Then you'll REALLY see him get pissed off.
I sure wasn’t about to mess with him when stopped by the Regent Beverly Wilshire last week to talk about his latest film,
FIREWALL. Check it out.
Harrison
Ford
What’s
up with the facial hair? Is
it for a role you’re doing?
Yeah,
I’m doing a film called Manhunt which takes place in Civil War
time. It’s about the
capture of John Wilkes Booth. Facial hair was a standard. Plus, I
don’t have to see much of my face.
What
attracted you to this film?
It
was the story. I found it interesting to do a story that was based
on contemporary issues of computer privacy and identity theft. I
think people are interested in that. And what I saw for myself was a
character with an interesting acting problem, which was sustaining
the tension that this character was under for 95 percent of this
film. There are brief moments where we see him in a resting state.
Quickly, we come to the point where this guy is under extreme
pressure and to me it was interesting how to phrase that simple kind
of melody that it does become interesting and that energy that it
does sustain and build in that right way.
You
specifically contacted Virginia Madsen to play the role of your
wife. Why?
Because
it was
Virginia
, and we wanted her to be in the film. She was getting a lot of
scripts and a lot of attention because of her nomination for
Sideways. Her agent said she was interested and I was nominated by
the group to call and encourage her to come and join us; it’s just
standard.
But
was it something about her?
Yeah,
her body of work has developed over the years. I thought of her as
being a highly capable actress. When we went to cast this part, her
name came up amongst many others. All of us felt she would be the
best choice.
Your
known as someone who likes to do your own action sequences (as
opposed to a stuntman). Why?
I
do do the action as much as possible. I always have from the very
beginning. I think it’s very important to be able to look into the
character and feel his fear, or his triumph, or his pain, or his
exhaustion, than to be on the back of a stuntman’s head. And I
know how to do it. I’ve
been doing it for 30 years; it’s no big deal. And it’s not that
I wanted to do the action, all of the action, it’s just I knew, I
know how to do it. I know how to do it safely, I know how to do it
without hurting other people, without hurting myself…it’s not a
big deal.
Do
you ever get into arguments about whether a stuntman should be doing
the stunt rather than you?
No,
I never had to, because I work with people I trust and who trust me.
And there have been times where I’ve said, “I can do that if you
want me to,” and they say, “I think it would be better if they
do it,” or whoever is doubling me for it. There’s one scene in
this film that I didn’t do in the fight sequence; and I knew it
was going to hurt, and the stuntman knew it was going to hurt –
and we were both right, it hurt. (laughs)
Your
director, Richard Loncraine, said you were in great shape.
How do you stay fit?
I
play tennis as much as possible, four or five times a week if I’m
off, probably three times a week when I’m working. But that’s
about it. I’ve
suffered a very lucky genetic accident.
In
regards to that, is there anything you’re doing to get ready for
Indiana
Jones 4? What can you
tell us about that project?
I’m
just waiting for the script to be ready.
Everybody agrees that we’re close.
We’re excited about it. I’m
looking forward to working with Steven (Spielberg) again. The
audience is there for it; I’m looking forward to it.
Virginia
said you were both
very protective of the children on the set in regards to bad
language.
What
the f*ck is she talking about it? (laughs) No, I have children and I
respect that. And I
respect their innocence. But these are not innocent children, these
are highly trained professional actors in little bodies. Both of
them are remarkably gifted young actors, and it’s just a joy to
watch them. As it is to watch our five year old appropriate and
understand. Watching
the mind of a child is very interesting to me.
There
seems to be a lot of rain in this movie; how difficult
is that to work in?
Well,
it’s atmospheric, an interesting additive; it’s a physical
reality, but it’s a bonus. It creates behavior that is appropriate
to raining. And every time a circumstance where you have a reality
– you get wet in this rain – it gives you another reality, just
another additive reality so that texture is really important.
So
it makes it easier as an actor.
I
wouldn’t go that far. (laughs) At the same time, it’s a total
pain in the ass. It’s very hard to light; I’m sure Richard told
you it’s impossible to light real rain. Just when you’re ready
to go, it stops, so you do have to make rain. It takes a lot of time
to light it properly so you can see the rain, but I thought it was
good for the movie and the mood of the film.
Are
you still able to get excited about the process of making films?
When
you start working, and you start working with minutia and detail,
and taking stuff apart and putting it back together, you get your
hands dirty on it, it becomes exciting again. I’ve spent my life
learning to do this and it’s where I feel most comfortable.
It’s what I have the experience of and what I’ve learned
about. It’s my discipline; it’s my profession. And I love the
challenge and I love working with a group of people in trying to
define a challenge for ourselves, set a challenge for ourselves, how
we’re going to meet the challenge. I love working with crew and
the actors. That’s
what I like.
After
Manhunt, do you have any projects after that or are you waiting for
Indiana
Jones 4?
I
have about four or five things in development right now which are
beginning to bear fruit, so I’m not sure what’s going to be
after Manhunt.
Questions? Comments? Manifestos? Send them to me at
thomasleupp@joblo.com.
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11:10AM on 02/09/2006